Changing Ladders Starting Phase II - Un-Retiring and Starting A New Life
I once heard about someone who had spent years climbing the ladder of success, finally reaching the top, and upon looking around, discovered that the ladder was on the wrong wall.
And so it is with careers and unfortunately the feeling that so many people must have as they enter "Retirement".
I never had given it a great deal of thought and never believed that I would retire. I actually enjoyed waking each day and having a career to go to.
But the reality of the ever changing global business world puts many barriers in front of those of us who began working at an early age, 6 years old for me, and suddenly, because of mergers and acquisitions, corporations and industries fading from practical necessity, or simply reaching an age when you are no longer looked at as an asset, but rather a liability, to a corporation. And "Retirement" occurs.
And no matter how hard I fought it, reality won, and I found myself "Retired".
Okay, we'll travel and see the world. "Great! Wow, that was fun!". But there's no place like home and if one is fortunate, homes.
The advantage of traveling ultimately leads to a "favorite" places list, and because we are gypsies and tend to want to spend time in our multiple favorite places, both in and out of America several times a year, we now enjoy settling into other locations and homes, at different times of the year!
I found retirement totally unacceptable to my needs, therefore in 2009 I made some decisions about what I wanted to do in Phase II of my life; a time that a friend of mine describes as "The Last Inning".
Like others who have gone before me, as I entered Phase II, my personal needs had changed and my previous thoughts of someday building a large business from a start-up business, was no longer of interest to me.
Now, all I wanted was a business: 1. Where I was the only employee, with no one to answer to, but me (and of course my wife Sheila, my son Spirit the stubborn cat, my daughter Molly the welcome wagger; My 3 Bosses). 2. That could be run anywhere I happened to be at the time. 3. Which required little or no storage or inventory maintenance. 4. That would have exponential potential for profit. 5. That would allow me to decide when and if I wanted to work, and/or shut it down for days or months at a time, and returning it quickly to full capacity when "I" wanted to.
Armed with those objectives in mind, I looked back over my personal and business life, and realistically began to look for what might allow me to build a successful business, on my own terms, and bring me fun, satisfaction, and financial gains.
I've been around, enjoyed, and participated in the entertainment world all of my life, learning how to play a guitar and sing, writing songs and stories, singing to audiences, and teaching others. And the entire time, it was FUN for me. I had discovered my perfect business, a small production company.
Spirit Wind Productions was the name I chose to call one of my two little businesses, which pretty well covers the gammit of the things I enjoy doing and creating. It is the only business I actuall share with the public.
I had one other interest, totally unrelated to the business plan of Spirit Wind Productions.
I enjoy learning and partiticipating in Short Term Trading of the Global Equity Markets. So for many financial reasons, I decided to start one more business that would allow me to spend a few minutes a day, trading the market, when and if I choose to do so.
Windwalkers Trading Company is also a component of my life, and it too can be done anywhere I happen to be in the world.
Now I'm back to work again, without a great deal of stress, but a lot of personal enjoyment.
